1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic cutting machine, and particularly relates to an automatic cutting machine having a receiving device for lens.
2. Description of Prior Art
Materials employed in the generating of lenses are basically those of glass (inorganic) or plastic (organic) compounds. As an inorganic material, glass has excellent transparency. However, to obtain an optical lens, the glass substrate must be subject to a plurality of processes, such as coarse grind, fine grind and polish processes. This results in increased cost. Accordingly, a plastic material, such as polycarbonate, is generally used for optical lenses. Polycarbonate lenses are the most-used alternative material for modem consuming product lenses. The polycarbonate lens is thinner, lighter, and provides greater impact resistance, high refractive index, complete UV protection, heat resistance and easy processability.
Plastic becomes soft when heated, and thus can be molded into any desired shape by applying heat and pressure to it. A schematic view of a semi-finished plastic lens assembly 9 with scraps is shown in FIG. 1. The lens assembly 9 is molded from a four-cavity mold and thus has four lenses 90 formed thereon. The lens assembly 9 comprises a vertical runner scrap 91 and a horizontal runner scrap 92 connecting with the lenses 90 via four connecting portions 93. The four lenses 90 are separated from the runner scraps 91, 92 by cutting the horizontal runner scrap 92 at the connecting portions 93.
Conventionally, the lenses 90 are separated from the runner scraps 91, 92 by manual cutting. This reduces production efficiency and provides unstable lens quality due to the operator's skill level. Additionally, with the rapid development of the technology, lenses used in consuming products, such as mobile phones, are becoming increasingly smaller. This also makes manual cutting more and more difficult and unpractical.
The emergency of an automatic cutting machine addresses the above-mentioned problems of manual cutting. A conventional automatic cutting machine generally employs a mechanically linked robotic arm to pick up the lenses. That is, the gripper of the robotic arm grips the runner to place the lens on a tray. The runner scraps are then cut. The separated lens is sucked up by a cupula of the robotic arm and finally placed into a lens receiver for stockage. However, as the cupula of the robotic arm of the conventional automatic cutting machine keeps intimate contact with the lens during the sucking process, the lens may be damaged. In addition, the multi-axis mechanism, positioning portion and control device applied by the conventional automatic cutting machine are rather complex and bulky, which also increases cost and occupies a large space.
Therefore, an improved automatic cutting machine is desired to overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages present in prior art.